Northwestern, International Law Schools Launch Global League

CHICAGO --- Northwestern University was among 17 law schools from around the world last week that launched the Law Schools Global League at Tilburg University Law School in the Netherlands.

The league’s establishment represents “an historic occasion,” said Daniel B. Rodriguez, dean and Harold Washington Professor at Northwestern University School of Law. He was among representatives of top law schools from Europe, Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, Singapore and South Africa. Northwestern is thus far the only participating United States member.

“What this league promises is a constructive medium for exploring projects that are of significant value to our law students practicing in an increasingly global legal environment,” Rodriguez noted.

The newly formed alliance comes at a time when law degree programs that traditionally have been aimed at national law are increasingly concerned with cross-border issues. The Law Schools Global League is the first more formal network of university law schools that aims to address these issues.

In addition to signing a constitution establishing the league, Rodriguez and Jim Speta, associate dean of international initiatives at Northwestern Law, along with other law school representatives, attended a one-day symposium at Tilburg University on the globalization of law.

“Vigorous discussion at the meeting was focused on myriad forms of information delivery, comparative emphases on teaching and scholarship, different economic models of legal education and competing frameworks of bench-bar relations,” Rodriguez said. “In short, we saw in action the pluralism of legal education.”

“Northwestern has long been a globally engaged law school, from foreign students who come to Chicago for our leading programs to innovative overseas education, service, and outreach programs and partnerships,” Speta said. “Membership in the League is both confirmation of that engagement and an additional platform to extend our reach.”